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Hegel Philosophical Research Centre, Stuttgart, Germany

Part 2 Project 2012Sarah HegabUniversity of Huddersfield Huddersfield UKAs a prominent cultural facility for the public and key educational building for more serious scholars, the scheme commemorates and celebrates the lives and works of three eminent philosophers from Stuttgart who gave rise to German Idealism. The symbiotic relationship between the men was vital to its development, and the relationship between the differing masses in the scheme seeks to quantify the level of individual success reached.

As well as a functional use, the proposal has a symbolic presence as a memorial. Creation of objects in the landscape, which not unlike gravestones, are the final resting place for the literature. As you wander through the historic cemetery you come across imposing monolithic structures at the end of the campus journey.

The golden section dictates the composition, hierarchy and entrance. The internal sunken courtyard is at the heart of the golden section and orientates the visitor. Pin wheel internal circulation satisfies the complex functional brief and works with the three forms protruding from the circulation plinth.

German Idealist thinking; where truth is believed to be deduced by reason alone, was taken up by the Rationalists of the 20th Century, first in philosophy, then in architecture. This thought led to formal rigour and stringent composition. My scheme draws on these rationalist principles that grew from inspiration generated by ancient monolithic forms.

Classical volumes and proportions with rationalist principles became my design driver. Hegels ‘Logical dialectic’ concept of thesis + antithesis = synthesis led me to look at the Fibonacci sequence and how individual parts form part of a universal whole, which can be clearly understood if abstracted and articulated. The principle of displacement, where the inner ‘box’ is relocated along the golden section line and repeated a second time created an interesting composition and hierarchy. The building spiralled inwards as it stepped down.

At night translucent white onyx clad volumes appear to rise out of a heavy plinth and glow behind darkened columns. These illuminated internal boxes represent rational thought that seeks to move beyond the dense cage of our belief systems that anchor the consciousness to the ground – the monolithic plinth.Sarah HegabTutor(s)Mr Gerard Bareham